Bonito processing

ABSTRACT

Previously frozen bonito is treated prior to cooking with a molecularly dehydrated phosphate such as sodium tripolyphosphate or an orthophosphate so as to increase the yield of cooked bonito meat.

United States Patent William E. Swartz McKeesport, Pa.

21 Appl. No. 883,232

221 Filed Dec. 8, 1969 [45] Patented Nov. 16, 1971 [73] Assignee Calgon Corporation Continuation-impart of application Ser. No.

\ 795,056, Jan. 29, 1969, now abandoned which is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 617,474, Feb. 21, 1967, now abandoned. The portion of the term of the patent subsequent to Feb. 3, 1987, has been disclaimed.

[72] Inventor [54] BONITO PROCESSING Tressler et 211., Marine Products of Commerce, 2nd Ed, 1951, pages 445- 446 Primary Examinerloseph Scovronek Assistant Examiner-Stephen B. Davis Attorney-Buell, Blenko & Ziesenheim ABSTRACT: Previously frozen bonito is treated prior to cooking with a moleculariy dehydrated phosphate such as sodium tripolyphosphate or an orthophosphate so as to increase the yieid of cooked bonito meat.

IiONITO PROCESSING phosphate in the flesh and thereafter, I cook the bonito as l application 15 a commuatlon'in-pan of y copending usual and remove the meat in the usual manner. While I prefer application 795,056 filed 1969, now analyses were run on the cooked meat. The data appears in Pat. No. 3,493,392 which is in turn a continuation-in-part of table I. my application Ser. No. 617,474, filed Feb. 2l, 1967 now 5 abandoned. Those applications relate to the processing of TABLE I tuna, which is classified in the United States in a different class Percent than bonito. Added This invention relates to bonito processing and particularly 1 Cook phoss 1 to a method of treatmg bomto to improve the yield, taste and sample Treatmem 1 3mm 1 205 San texture of the light meat. 1 tripoly 10.1 01.1 0.02 0. 511 0. Bonito, which is similar to the tuna family, is a fish of 2 %,?23121 and generally high oil content. In general, the light meat of the Norm-mun" 5% meta 5.1 88.2 0. 01 0. 48 0.11 bon1to 1s canned and sold for human consumption, wh1le the 1 5 1 Based on initial raw weight.

dark portion of the bonito is sold as cat food or otherwise used in animal food mixtures. Obviously, it is highly desirable economically to be able to increase the yield of bonito meat.

I have found surprisingly, that, if bonito is pumped with a EXAMPLE 2 sohmon of a moleculafly Phosphate an 20 Four frozen bonito were cut in half lengthwise withabandorthophosphate alone the of saw. The halves were then placed in plastic bags, thawed at f meat can be Increased markedly as compaed m the room temperature and stored overnight at room temperature. yield of untreated bonito where the cooking is carried out in Halves were then weighed d i h pumped t 30 .s.i.g. steam alone. In addition to the increased yield of the meat, the with either 7 percent f a blend f tripolyphosphate plus h flavor and Odor are more delicate being 0"" ametaphosphate, 10 percent salt, 7 percent of a blend of Moreover, the cooked meat is more tender and less dry in the tripolyphosphate d h h m plus [0 percent salt, or treated as compared to untreated boniwtapwater. Halves were then drained 5 minutes and reweighcd. Preferably, I P p a Solution 0f and moleculafly Saran was placed on the open flesh side of each half and then dehydrated P p Such as Sodium p yp p halves of the same fish were placed together and trussed up miXluTeS of Sodium p yp p and Sodium with string. All "reformed" fish were placed in the autoclave ametaphosphale, Sodium pyr p ph a Solution of and cooked at 220 F. for l hour 5 minutes. They were then sodium orthophosphate into the thawed flesh of the bonito becooled and stored at room temperature. Samples for TBA fore cooking to provide a level of about 0.5 percent added analysis were taken at 6, 24, and 30 hour periods. The samto use a solution of salt and phosphate, 1 have found that the pling was done on the layer of flesh within one-half inch of the phosphate alone will also provide marked improvement in skin surface. Only light meat was taken for analysis. The data yield of bonito meat as well as in flavor and odor, although not are reported in table ll.

TABLE II.-POLYPHOSPIIATE TREATIMENT 0F 130N150 IIALVES TBA values Analytical data 011 cooked meat, percent Percent Whole Half Cook Added polysample sample Treatment Pump yield 6 hr. 24 hr. 30 hr. P101 phosphate 1 Salt Protein Moisture A None 00. s 2. 4 4. 4 6.8 o. 03 0. 20 25. s 1. s I "{B 7% polyphosphate 7. 2 94. 4 1. 7 3. 5 3. 8 0. 92 O. 48 0.26 23. 9 11. 4 A 7% polyphosphate 3 2 J5. 6 1. 0 l. 8 2. 3 0. 88 0. 4i 0. 35 25. 0 71. 9 H "{B 1% polyphosphatcfi 10% snlL 10.1 01.3 1. 0 1.1 2. 4 0. 02 0. 411 1.33 23.1 13. 4 A 10% salt 6. 5 96. 8 1. 2 4. 8 4. ll 0. 54 l. 04 2:2. 0!). 9 In "in 1% polyphosphate} 10% 51110---- 10.2 08. 1 1. 1 2. 5 a. 0 0.115 0 .11 1. 21 2.1..1 011. 0 A Water pump 3 91. 7 3. 6 5. 8 (l. 2 0. 54 0. 35 23. 7 02. 0 1V "{B 1% polyphosphate, 10% $1111...- 0. 5 101.0 1.1 2.8 2.0 0. s4 0. 35 1.10 21.1 05.0

1 Based on initial weight. 2 Blend of sodium tripolyphosphate and sodium hexametaphosphate. Value not obtained.

. 55 to the degree generally ach1eved by the salt-phosphate mix- EXAMPLE 3 ture. The level of phosphate addition should preferably be between 0.1 and 1.0 percent.

The invention is peculiarly advantageous in its effect on bonito meat yield. 1 do not propose to attempt an explanation of this peculiar advantage but simply point out that it is a very surprising but extremely important commercial advantage.

The invention will perhaps be better understood by reference to the following examples.

Chunks of bonito meat weighing about 3 lbs. each were taken from equivalent sections of a single bonito and used in a flavor evaluation of the polyphosphate treatment. One of the chunks was injected with 5 percent of a blend of tripolyphosphate and hexametaphosphate plus 10 percent salt. The other chunk was left untreated. Both chunks were cooked in the autoclave for 45 minutes at 220 F. The final internal temperature of the chunks was 184 F.

EXAMPLE 1 The chunks were stored at room temperature for 18 hours and TBA samples were taken in surface layers of the meat. frozen bonito were thawed ice water Overnight to Tasting at this point indicated the treated to be quite superior internal p of approximately The fish were in texture and in juiciness. The untreated tasted chewy and then weighed and pumped with a manual stitch pumper at 40 d lb. pressure using a three-needle manifold. Injection was at 1 Now the light-cooked meat from each chunk was packed inch intervals first on one side of the bonito and then on the into 6-1/2 ounce size cans. The treated cans were filled with other. The fish were then drained, weighed and cooked at the hot water and sealed. The control cans had an amount of salt same time at 220 F. for 1 hour 15 minutes. They were then added equivalent to that pumped into the treated meat and cooled at room temperature and weighed. Phosphate and salt then they were filled with hot water and sealed TBA VALUES lN COOKED BONlTO Sample Precooked, l8 Hrs. Retcrted & Canned mm 16 2.7 Treated 2.9 1.7

The data show that in every case in examples I and 2, samples injected with polyphosphate had significantly higher yield than comparable controls. In the whole fish experiment, the control value was 85 percent yield and the treated values ranged from 88.2 to 91.1 percent yield. In the split halves experiment, all the treated halves were higher in yield than comparable control halves.

The data in table ll show a definite control of TBA buildup in the samples that have been treated with polyphosphates. Although individual values vary from fish to fish, when the equivalent halves of a single fish are compared, in every case the control TBA values have risen at a significantly faster rate.

In example 3 the rise in TBA value has been correlated with taste. In that case we see that the high TBA values are associated with rancid tastes, and that although retorting lowers TBA values, the differences in taste between treated and control are still noticeable.

A lower percent moisture in fish IV (see table II) is due to a significantly higher fat content in this fish compared to the others.

It will be seen from the foregoing examples that the addition of molecularly dehydrated phosphate and mixtures of molecu- Iarly dehydrated phosphate and salt showed marked improvement in bonito meat yields over bonito cooked without polyphosphate or pumped with an equal amount of water.

The TBA values are indicative of the oxidation or rancidity development of the oils in the fish. The rancidification of the oil causes the fish to give off an undesirably fishy odor and to develop a strong taste. This tendency is markedly reduced by my treatment, resulting in more delicate odor and taste as well as better keeping qualities.

While I have illustrated and described certain preferred practices of my invention in the foregoing specification, it is to be understood that this invention may be otherwise embodied within the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. The method of treating frozen bonito to provide greater yields of subsequently cooked bonito meat which comprises the step of incorporating by pumping into said bonito flesh after thawing and prior to cooking at least 0.l percent by weight of a phosphate selected from the group consisting of molecularly dehydrated phosphates and orthophosphates. 2. The method of treating bonito as claimed in claim 1 wherein the molecularly dehydrated phosphate is incorporated into said bonito by pumping an aqueous solution of said phosphate and salt into the bonito flesh.

3. The method of treating bonito as claimed in claim I wherein the phosphate is a molecularly dehydrated phosphate.

4. The method of treating bonito as claimed in claim I wherein the phosphate is one or more of the group consisting of sodium tripolyphosphate and sodium hexametaphosphate.

5. The method of treating bonito as claimed in claim 1 wherein the phosphate is a mixture of sodium orthophosphate and sodium pyrophos hate.

6. The method 0 treating bonito as claimed ll'l clalm 1 wherein phosphate in an amount between about 0.1 to L0 percent is incorporated in the bonito prior to cooking.

7. The method of treating bonito as claimed in claim 1 wherein the phosphate consists of a major portion of sodium tripolyphosphate.

8. The method of treating bonito as claimed in claim 1 wherein the phosphate is an orthophosphate.

9. The method of treating bonito as claimed in claim 1 wherein the phosphate is a pyrophosphate.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent 3.620.767 bat dw Invent William E. Syartz It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 1, line 33, after "added" insert phosphate in the flesh and thereafter, I cook the bonito as usual and remove the meat in the usual manner. While I prefer Column 2, lines 1 and 2, delete "phosphate in the flesh and thereafter, I cook the bonito as usual and remove the meat in the usual manner. While I prefer line 75, after "sealed" insert a period.

Signed and sealed this 17th day of October 1972.

(SEAL) Attest:

EDWARD M.FLETCHER,JR. ROBERT GOTTSCHALK Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents QM P0-1050 (10-69) USCOMM-DC wave-Poo 1i LLS GOVERNMENT HUNTING OFFICE: Ill! OJ66-334 

2. The method of treating bonito as claimed in claim 1 wherein the molecularly dehydrated phosphate is incorporated into said bonito by pumping an aqueous solution of said phosphate and salt into the bonito flesh.
 3. The method of treating bonito as claimed in claim 1 wherein the phosphate is a molecularly dehydrated phosphate.
 4. The method of treating bonito as claimed in claim 1 wherein the phosphate is one or more of the group consisting of sodium tripolyphosphate and sodium hexametaphosphate.
 5. The method of treating bonito as claimed in claim 1 wherein the phosphate is a mixture of sodium orthophosphate and sodium pyrophosphate.
 6. The method of treating bonito as claimed in claim 1 wherein phosphate in an amount between about 0.1 to 1.0 percent is incorporated in the bonito prior to cooking.
 7. The method of treating bonito as claimed in claim 1 wherein the phosphate consists of a major portion of sodium tripolyphosphate.
 8. The method of treating bonito as claimed in claim 1 wherein the phosphate is an orthophosphate.
 9. The method of treating bonito as claimed in claim 1 wherein the phosphate is a pyrophosphate. 